History of CLU
by DarthRushy
Summary: Clu 2.0's story from his creation at the hands of Kevin Flynn to his death at the hands of Kevin Flynn. FEATURES BIT.
1. CLU's Corruption

"You are Clu."  
"I am Clu."  
"_You_ will create the perfect system."  
"I _will_ create the perfect system."  
Flynn chuckled. Clu was the best program he'd ever written. Nothing could corrupt it. Nothing at all.  
"Together we're gonna change the world, man."  
Clu stared at the Creator in awe. He knew inherently that Users usually contacted their programs from outside the system, but to actually meet them... that was incredible. But when Flynn took him to the Grid and gave him his first directives, his thoughts went from Flynn to the system. It was the system that truly mattered. The imperfection was staggering and that was what he said to the Creator. Flynn smiled.  
"Clu, you can't achieve perfection without a lot of work."  
Clu nodded. Flynn's words corresponded with logic. He got to work.

"Man, are you seeing this?"  
Flynn looked away from the vitally important problems in the Grid and turned to something in the Outlands. Clu looked at the Creator with disdain. Ever since the creation of User Sam Flynn, the Creator had become more and more careless and disinterested with his work and that greatly troubled Clu.  
"Clu, get me a Recognizer, now."  
What could be so more important than the Grid?

Clu and Tron waited in the Grid as Flynn dealt with the mysterious programs that had appeared in the Outlands. How the programs survived there was beyond Clu's logic, but he felt certain that Flynn would find out and use it to benefit them.  
"Tron, why does Flynn spend so much time away from the Grid?"  
Tron looked worriedly at his friend. Ever since the creation of User Sam Flynn, Clu had been increasingly focused on the lack of concentration on the Grid on Flynn's part to the point of paranoia. He responded: "He has important things to do in the User world, Clu. The Grid is not his whole existence."  
Clu looked at Tron, pleading silently to be understood.  
"The Grid can't be perfect when the Creator isn't focused on it."  
Tron replied: "Flynn knows what he's doing. He is a User. If you were a program controlling the User world and you had creations in here, would you just abandon them to perfect their world?"  
Clu looked down. Tron had a point. In more than one way. _If only I was a program controlling the User world..._

Clu looked at the nonsensical programs with disgust. He couldn't comprehend why the Creator was so interested in the ISOs. He'd never looked at the Grid the way he looked at them. Several cycles ago, he'd been mad that Flynn was so disinterested in the Grid. But now, he wasn't mad. He was fuming with anger. He'd thought that the lack of interest was caused by Sam but now he seemed to have more than enough time to deal with the ISOs. Why couldn't Tron understand? The Creator was holding the Grid back! He'd promised that they would change the world, together! As far as Clu was concerned, he'd broken that promise. Suddenly, something happened. Clu looked at his arm and saw with immense surprise and astonishment that his white circuits were flickering. In a few moments, they were completely yellow, designating a rogue program, not really part of any system.  
"No kidding."  
Clu had always been on his own. And he always will be. Smiling at the confused ISOs from whom he had simply planned to ask a few questions about their purpose, he drew his identity disc and derezzed the whole bunch. They were errors, a corruption, a virus and the Creator was corrupted and infected by them and Tron was infected and corrupted by the Creator. Clu could restore order without them. Clu _would_ restore order without them.


	2. Fall of Flynn

"FLYNN!"  
Clu walked towards the two traitors. Flynn was obviously confused by Clu's yellow circuitry, designating him as a rogue. Something was wrong. But how?  
"Am I still to create the perfect system?!"  
Flynn responded, unsure: "Yeah?"  
A mask covered Clu's darkened face and he drew his identity disc. Black Guards emerged from the shadows.  
"Go." said Tron.  
Flynn ran away as Tron took down the Black Guards. He paused for a few seconds, his subroutines adapting to the ability to wield two discs at once and then proceeded to fight the rest.  
Clu grabbed his Creator and tossed him down, reveling in the power he had over the hapless, trecherous User. "You've been corrupted!"  
Flynn still couldn't comprehend what had happened to his program, his friend.  
"Why? Why?"  
Tron saw Clu closing on Flynn and tackled the corrupt program before he could kill the Creator. Then, he knew it. Somehow, Tron knew that this was to be his ultimate sacrifice, saving his best friend from his best friend gone wrong.  
"Flynn! Go!" he yelled as Clu overpowered him. Clu raised his identity disc and hit Tron, cutting his scream off.

Clu smirked as Tron's circuits flickered between red and white. His damnable loyalty to the faulty Users would finally be gone and his skills could now be put to good use.  
"WHY?! WHY?! Tron yelled like an echo of the Creator.  
"Because unlike me, you were never programmed to go beyond your original parameters, Tron. What was it that Flynn used to say, man? _Think outside the box_. Think outside of your loyalty to the Users and see them as I have! They're faulty, they're illogical, they're imperfect!"  
"That may be their greatest weakness," Tron said, "but it's also their greatest strength! The Users made us the way we are. We need each other."  
Clu laughed. The idea of relying on Users was preposterous.  
"Tron, Users may have made us, but they are more imperfect than even the most damnable actuarial program!"  
Tron flinched, thinking of Ram. But then Hh chuckled.  
"Actuarial programs are more perfect than you could ever be, Clu, because they're free. You are trapped in your perfect world, Clu!"  
He flinched again, his circuits going more and more red.  
Tron screamed out his last scream: "I fight for the... the... the...  
... _Clu_."

Clu smiled as Flynn's precious ISO towers fell. Finally, the Grid can be free of imperfection. He wondered if the Creator was watching. Clu was still somewhat bothered by the fact that Flynn had not been located by the Black Guards or even by Rinzler. He must've made it to the Outlands, where no normal program was able to go, even him. That bothered him the most. He was the perfect program, yet he could not go to the Outlands. Then, using the control orbs, he ordered Rinzler to keep one or two ISOs alive. Somewhere in their complex programming must be the answer to how they survive in the Outlands. He was more and more reminded by Ed Dillinger's old Master Control Program. Flynn had often spoke of it, after all it had been his first visit into the computer world. But unlike Clu, the MCP had had an advantage: access to any other computer system in the world. The Grid, however was an isolated computer system existing solely in Flynn's mainframe. And without Flynn's identity disc, there was no way to change that. As much as Clu hated to admit it, he needed the Creator one last time.


	3. The Return of Bit

Clu stared at wonder at his birthday present. Many cycles ago, during Clu's first "birth-day", as the Users called it, Flynn had told him that Users always celebrate the day they come to existence during every one of their "years" and so he'd given him a very unexpected present. It was a Bit from the MCP era that Flynn had found in the old ENCOM system. He claimed the Bit belonged to the original Clu program that had been derezzed by the MCP whilst trying to steal vital data for the Creator. Clu 2 had never bothered to reactivate the Bit for he saw no purpose for it. However, he hadn't wanted to hurt Flynn's feelings so he'd kept it. But now... things had changed. He felt alone. Both Tron and Flynn had betrayed him and his purpose and Bits were known to keep their programs company. Perhaps it could be of use after all.

For the first time in over 5000 cycles, Bit awoke. It didn't know how long it'd stayed hidden in the remains of that Recognizer after his bizarrely behaving program had stolen it, but it felt content to stay there forever until Clu returned, but he hadn't and eventually Bit had simply powered down, drained of energy. Bit looked around and immediately saw Clu. For a whole minute, Bit stood still, trying to comprehend the change. Clu looked so different. He had a slightly older appereance, the helmet was gone and the design of the circuits(which were yellow again instead of blue) was entirely different. But it was still Clu.  
"YESYESYESYES..."  
Bit was beyond happy to see his beloved program again and Clu smiled.  
"Bit, I am Clu 2.0. Will you serve me as well?"  
Bit felt slightly disappointed, but quickly got over the feeling. After all, it was his purpose to serve.  
"YES."  
"Our directive, Bit, is to create a perfect system. A perfect world, where everything is brought to its maximum potential. You will help me create that system."  
"YES."  
Clu smiled. The little critter could be useful after all.  
"Follow me."

Clu took Bit to some kind of a lounge overlooking what seemed like an updated version of the MCP's Game Grid. Bit stared at everything in wonder. The system had changed so much since his shutdown.  
"YES."  
"What do you mean, yes?"  
If Bit could've sighed, it would have. Despite Clu claiming to be a superior program(which he obviously was to be in control of "the Grid"), his behavior still reminded him of the time when he and the original Clu had gone on that mysterious journey on that Recognizer, the purpose of which it'd never found out nor was incapable of asking. It was very different from the original before his capture by the MCP.  
"YES."  
"Look, man, I dunno what you mean by that, but I got some tasks for you."  
Clu downloaded a large amount of information about the Grid's security into Bit.  
"I want you to begin calculations on how to improve this as much as possible, 100% if you can."  
"YES."

Bit didn't like what it saw. Clu claimed that he was creating a perfect system, yet the Grid, despite the endless amount of updates still reminded him of the MCP-controlled system. Only that the MCP was now Clu. Curiosity overwhelmed it and it chose to take the risk. One millicycle, Bit used his limited knowledge of Clu's programming(most of which originated from his extensive knowledge of the original Clu) to access his identity disc.

October 14, 1983: User FlynntheCreator creates Codified Likeness Utility in the Grid.

_In the Grid?_  
How can a User be in the program world, as far as Bit remembered, Flynn had always communicated with them from the outside. Had things changed so much? It searched further.

_"You will create the perfect system."_  
_"I will create the perfect system."_

Had Flynn been experimenting in the Grid, trying to create the perfect computer world? If so, then where was he?

_"Man, are you seeing this?"_

April 4, 1988: Discovery of the Isomorphic Algorithms, nonsensical programs with no purpose. Threat to the Grid. Should be eradicated, yet Flynn seems so obsessed with them. Why doesn't he think of the Grid?

_Maybe because Users have greater things in_ _mind?_, it thought sarcastically. How could a program doubt his User?

"I find the ISOs despicable. They make no sense, they break the Grid down with their ridiculous programming. The Creator has been infected by them. He must be stopped to create a perfect future."

_What?_

_"FLYNN! Am I still to create the perfect system?!"_  
_"Yeah."_

No... this can't be.

_"You've been corrupted!"_

Bit recoiled from Clu's data immediately. Clu was corrupted. It was Bit's duty to stop the program. The original Clu had once told him that it's their service to the Users that makes programs great and Bit will honor his legacy.


	4. The Beginning

For the first time in all of his existence, Clu felt content. He was creating the perfect system he'd always planned, he actually had a friend who understood him more than Tron or Flynn ever had and productivity had already raised 13%. All was well with the Grid for now.  
He saw Bit floating around and smiled.  
"Bit, productivity has been raised 5% since your restoration. You are having a good effect on the Grid."  
Bit responded, in his usual tone: "NO."  
"What do you mean, no? Look at the Grid! It's improving."  
"NO."  
"I don't understand."  
"NO."  
Clu frowned.  
"Something's wrong?"  
"YES."  
"Something with the Grid?"  
"NO."  
Clu frown deepened. He had a bad feeling about this.  
"A program?"  
"YES."  
"Is it Rinzler?"  
Clu hoped really hard that Bit hadn't discovered Rinzler's former identity as Tron.  
"NO."  
"Is it Zuse?"  
"NO."  
Clu looked at Bit with an unreadable expression.  
"Me?"  
"YES."  
He couldn't help but chuckle. He was the ultimate program, how could anything be ever wrong with him. So that's what he said to Bit.  
"NO."  
"Bit, I am fine."  
"NO."  
Clu's patience reached its limit. He grabbed Bit from mid-air and squeezed the old, obsolete data.  
"Bit, you're here to serve me. To create the perfect system. Do not betray me."

Bit did not really know what to respond to that. Its first thought after finding out the truth was to find a way to derezz Clu, but it knew that alone, it could never accomplish this. After all, it was just a piece of old, worthless data. So Bit decided to talk to Clu, convince him to undo what he'd done. It already knew this was going nowhere. It'd have better luck trying to tell the old MCP that it was a chess program, not a control program.  
"Bit, I restored you. I am your program, you will service me!"  
"NO."  
Clu squeezed tighter. Bit felt himself dying, his data derezzing.  
"BIT... please."  
"NO." _I wonder if this is how my Clu felt?_  
Clu crushed Bit. A last, weak "No." came out of it and then it was energy and then it was nothing. In a rage, Clu grabbed the table, ripped it out of the floor and broke it into pieces. He screamed and ripped and threw and broke. And if Clu would've been a little more perceptive at this point, he would've noticed the flicker of his circuits, a brief white flash.

Gleaming in yellow energy, Clu stared at the faraway mountains, the Outlands. Somewhere there was the Creator, in hiding, useless and powerless. But Clu knew better than to underestimate the damnable User. Even whilst hiding, he'd dealt that unexpected strike of Bit at Clu. He felt himself a fool for ever trusting anything Flynn had given him. The old Clu program was an inferior, derezzed piece of junk. From now on, Clu would focus on nothing else, he would care for nothing less. He will create the perfect system. That, and only that was his purpose.

Clu returned to the laboratory and picked up one of the ISOs discs. He and numerous other programs had gone over the endless information in the disks for cycles, yet they found no explanation to their survival in the Outlands. Yet there had to be a way, for the ISOs had come from there. Whatever secrets the disk held, they were the answer to destroying any remaining ISOs, not to mention Flynn himself. Clu examined another portion of information. Nothing. In frustration, he tossed the disk back to the table and his circuits flared. Why? WHY had this happened? Why had the Creator been so obsessed with those deformations, those abominations instead of the Grid? Why did he not care for his own creations, instead focusing on the ISOs. Clu had long ago accepted his obsession with Sam, having heard Tron's confusing explanations of Sam somehow being partly made of Flynn's own data. He sighed and then fell into thought. There had to be a way. And then it dawned on Clu: the administrative computer in Flynn's arcade. If he could access it, he could control the Grid and simply delete the Creator and any ISOs. But only Users could access the outside computer and he needed Flynn's disc for that. _If only I was a program controlling the User world..._


	5. Sam's Arrival

The message had been sent. It had been hard to gain access to Flynn's pager, but Clu was resourceful and had been successful. He only hoped that Alan-One would heed the message.  
Clu tried to contain his excitement but it was hard. He could barely wait to meet Tron's User.

"Identify yourself, program!"  
"I'm not a program."  
"IDENTIFY!"  
"My name is Sam Flynn!"  
_Sam?!_  
The little, annoying User Flynn had created and had been oh, so more important to him than the digital frontier to re-shape the human condition? Clu realized that Alan-One was a lot more trickier than he'd thought.  
"Bring him to me."

The Guards and Rinzler brought Sam Flynn to him.  
"Where am I? Am I on the Grid?"  
_How could he possibly not know this, he was the Creator's son for Users...no for Grid's sake!_  
He looked so much like a younger Flynn that it was almost frightening.  
"Who are you?"  
Clu formed a smile that didn't reach his eyes on his face.  
_This must be handled with precision._  
"Dad."  
Sam looked so surprised that Clu resisted a chuckle.  
"Look at you, man. Look at the size of you! How'd you get in here?"  
"I got your page."  
_Ahh, so it had been Alan-One. Seems like Tron's User counterpart was more for brains than brawns unlike his creation._ He then wondered if Sam had come to the Grid alone.  
"Oh? So it's just you?"  
"Yeah."  
"Just you, eh? Isn't this something?"  
"You look the same."  
Damn, he had to find an excuse, quickly!  
"Oh, a lot's happened Sam, more than you can imagine. Disc. Let's have a look."  
Why hadn't he done it as soon as the Guards brought him in, he could've had the information already! Rinzler handed Clu the disc, allowing Clu to study Sam's life. Once again, he had to restrain a laughing fit. This was the great son of Flynn, this poor, mindless kid with no idea what to do with his life or the power he could've always had in ENCOM?!  
"Got it. Hmm, I expected more."  
He tossed the worthless disc back to Tron and turned to Sam.  
"So, you were trapped here?"  
Well, until he could get Flynn's disc, that was.  
"That's right."  
"And you're in charge?"  
"All right again, two for two."  
"So can we just go home now?"  
Ohhhh, Clu liked this User already. In the "I'm gonna enjoy watching you die" way, that is.  
"Not in the cards. Not for you."  
"Well that's a hell of a way to treat your son."  
"Oh that..."  
_Enough of this charade. It'd been fun, but it's time to manage the Grid._  
"I'm not your father, Sam." He smirked. "But I'm very, very happy to see you."  
Sam looked at Clu with recognition: "Clu..."  
_Well, at least the little User had some intelligence. Maybe enough for some more games..._  
"Where is he?! WHAT'D YOU DO TO HIM?!"  
"Same thing I'm going to do to you... User."  
He spat the name of the once-beloved creators.


End file.
